Power-wheel for grab-buckets.



E. B. PERRY.

POWER WHEEL FOR GRAB BUCKETS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 3. 1915;

LMLW PatentedSept. 25, 1917.

INVENTOR ATTORNEY ERNEST B- BBY, 0F BAY I'I MICH GA P0W H e GBAB-BUCKETS- 9 Specification of Letters Patent.

Paten d n 25, 91?- Applieation filed May 3, 1915. Serial No. 25,463.

1 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST B. PERRY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bay City, in the county of Bay and State of h Iichigan, have inventeduc'ertain new and useful Improvements in Power-Wheels for GraoBuckets; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in grab buckets and pertains more particularly to an improved device for opening and closing the bucket, to insure ease and smoothness of action, and great strength.

A. further object is to make possible the employment of a round or close link chain, and to prevent chafing of the chain and increase the bearing area of the chain on the power wheel hub.

With these and certain other objects in view which will appear later in the specification, my improvement consists in the devices described and claimed and the equivalents thereof.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows the power wheel and side chains by which the main shaft of the bucket is raised and lowered to close and open the bucket, the bucket being omitted. The position shown is that of the parts when the bucket is open.

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the position of the parts just after the bucket has started to close and the sidechains are entering the grooves of the sheave hubs.

Fig. 3 is a detail of the side chain equalizer.

Fig. 1 is a top plan view, broken away in part, showing the grooved hubs of the sheave.

As is clearly shown in the drawings, the device consists in the sheave 4 having projecting hubs 5 and 6. Upon the periphery of the sheave is wound a rope 7 and the sheave is suspended from an upper center casting 8 by means of a pair of side chains 9 and 10, the connection to the sheave being made at a point near the hub, by means of an equalizer link 11 that passes through an opening in the web of the sheave. When rope 7 is drawn up, the sheaves revolve and the chains 9 and 10 are wrapped around the hubs 5 and 6, thereby raising the shaft 3 and closing the bucket.

It is the purpose of my present improvement to provide a hub construction whereby the durability of the chains 9 and 1.0 may be greatlyincreased and whereby the wear of the chain is decreased, allowing a chain of given size to do heavier work than would be possible with the type of hub heretofore employed.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 4-, it will be seen that each hub is formed with a helical groove, as 14, 15, adapted to receive the lower parts of alternate links of chains 9 and 10, while the peripheries of the hubs form a bearing for the sides of alternate links; thus the chain while being wound and unwound is prevented from twisting and jerks and jars due to improper winding are avoided. The helical grooves 14 and 15 guide the convolutions of the chain and prevent over-riding of one turn of chain upon the other.

The twist of the grooves on the two hubs is in opposite directions, so that the chains commence winding near the plane of the sheave wheel and gradually spread from it as the winding progresses. At the beginning of each helical groove the hub is formed with a recess or socket 16, 17, to receive the ends 18 and 19 of the equalizing link 11. The sides of the sockets 17 are of sufficient width to receive the ends 18 and 19 of the equalizer link, and these sides converge and merge into the grooves 14, 15, to properly guide the first links of the chain into the grooves and assist their proper entrance into the grooves when the chain.

has been allowed to become very slack.

The helix is so laid out on the hub that a tangent line drawn from the take-off point of the helix (6. e., where the chain leaves the hub) will pass through the point of suspension of the chain (on the upper center casting 8), and therefore, the chain leads straight off the hub at all positions of windmg.

By the means above described, I have produced a' bucket opening and closing device of simple construction, yet strong and durable that prevents uncertain or jerky motion to the chain, insuring smooth and quiet operation of the bucket and reducing to a minimum the liability of fouling the chain.

Having thus described my invention,what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a grab bucket having a closing device comprising a sheave, means for rotating said sheave, an equalizer link passing through an opening formed in the Web of said sheave, a pair of side chains secured to the ends of said equalizer link, a pair of oppositely-extending hubs fixed to said sheave, each hub formed With a socket to receive one end of the equalizer-link and having an outwardly-extending helical groove formed in its periphery adapted to receive a chain When the sheave is revolved.

2. In a grab bucket having a closing device comprising a sheave, having the Web thereof formed With an opening, an equalizer link loosely received in said opening,

Copies of this patent may be obtained for a pair of oppositely extending hubs fixed to said sheave, each of said hubs having a longitudinally extending helical groove formed on its periphery and having a socket formed With converging sides merging into the sides of said grooves, and means for ro tating said sheaves.

In testimony whereof, I aifix my signature in presence of tWo Witnesses.

ERNEST B. PERRY.

Witnesses:

,B. DIXU,

H. W. WILLARD.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G. 

